Linguistic diversity and communication represent both opportunities and challenges in modern society and professional practice. Knowledge about linguistic diversity and communication is necessary to realise several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Research on language and communication in kindergartens, schools, practical training enterprises and working life generates knowledge about the use of language, different discourses and how they affect the individual’s possibilities of co-determination, knowledge acquisition and Bildung.
The thematic area involves research on language development in children and young people in general and about the use of language in environments characterised by linguistic diversity, including sign language and deaf studies, and sign language and spoken language interpretation.
The coronavirus pandemic illustrated that the authorities’ communication with linguistic minorities affect the health of the population as a whole.
Generally speaking, communication across language barriers is important to safeguard experts’ responsibility and professional integrity when encountering language barriers – and to meet the population’s basic rights.
Research on interaction in interpreted conversations is therefore relevant to several social functions, including future professionals from the faculty’s programmes and OsloMet’s programmes of professional study in general. The development of interpretation as an academic discipline in general and our digital age are key elements here.
Research in this thematic area takes an interdisciplinary approach and combines humanistic and social science approaches with perspectives from linguistics, research on bilingualism, translation studies, psychology, social anthropology, pedagogy and educational research.
Qualitative data are often analysed through a multimodal approach where language is understood in a wide sense and also includes body language and gestures and material and visual forms of expression.
Important research topics for this area:
- children and young people’s language development and use
- multilingualism and linguistic diversity
- language development and multilingual environments
- sign language and deaf studies
- linguistic diversity in the digital sphere
- interpretation, communication and society
- interpretation and interprofessional interaction
- interaction in interpreted conversations
- communication via an interpreter for professionals
- interpretation and interaction in digital spheres
- development of technical language and terminology
Thematic research areas at the Faculty of Education and International Studies
Linguistic diversity, communication and interpretation is one of the thematic research areas at the Faculty of Education and International Studies.
Here is an overview of all the thematic research areas at the faculty.
